12-15-11:The Agony Column Live with Lisa Goldstein and Ayize Jama-Everett, and music by Fenyang Smith, December 10, 2011
Karen Joy Fowler (left) joined the discussion with Lisa Goldstein and Ayize Jama-Everett. Click image for audio link of panel conversation.
"... let's look at what happens if people have abilities that other people don't have ..." —Ayize Jama-Everett
Though they write of very different worlds, Lisa Goldstein and Ayize Jama-Everett have a surprisingly similar take in their fiction. They both write stories that effectively create secret worlds where fairytales and the supernatural are real; they create spaces in our world where these surreal and unreal aspects of our lives come out in the open. Our gracious hosts at Capitola Book Café might have a few signed copies left; and in any evet they certainly deserve your business.
Pairing them seemed natural, once I thought about it. Ayize asked me if he could bring a musician to join him; Fenyang Smith, a superbly talented player who helmed his music from a laptop using Logic and an M-AUDIO controller. CBC has a very nice space for musicians behind the writers.
Goldstein started the show with the opening from 'The Uncertain Places,' which I think is easily one of the best this year. Then with, Fenyang to accompany him, AYize read from 'The Liminal People.' I enjoyed this aspect of the show quite a bit and may try to bring in more musicians to back us up.
After that, the discussion began, and with a lot of help from our audience, in particular Karen Joy Fowler, we really dug into these two unique and entertaining novels. I'm podcasting everything today, in three parts.
If Orner were not such a wonderful writer, it would be more of a shame that he didn't follow his inclinations to go into politics. But there is nothing stopping him now, so far as that goes, other than acclaim for his fiction and non-fiction.
Happily, instead of exercising his political inclinations by jumping in the mudbath of politics as it is practiced in the US today, Orner exercises his political enthusiasms editing non-fiction for Dave Eggers Voice of Witness series;
'Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives,' with Luis Alberto Urrea and 'Hope Deferred: Narratives of Zimbabwean Lives.
Peter Orner's books have a loose fun feel to them and you might imagine that speaking with him is similarly loose and fun; which you can find out by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
12-13-11 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 22: Sue Grafton, 'V is for Vengeance'
Click image for audio link.
Here's the twenty-second episode of my new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. The podcasts/radio broadcasts will be of books worth your valuable reading time. I'll try to keep the reports under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format. If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
The twenty-second episode is a look at Sue Grafton and her new book, 'V is for Vengeance'.
Harper's Magazine, being one of the last bastions of reasonable thought and a monthly publication well worth your valuable reading time, has a new article by no less than Thomas Frank, asking for the unthinkable: "More Government, Please!"
It's been a fascinating few years on the American political and economic landscape, and rather mind-boggling, to tell the truth. We're in the midst of what we like to call an "economic downturn," which is to say, a global economic catastrophe that is likely to make the Great Depression look like Happy Valley. I've been betting on the barrels as a fashion trend for a while now.
In his latest article for Harper's, Thomas Frank thinks the unthinkable, asking for more government and suggesting that we look at re-creating the successful programs that helped pull the nation out of the Great Depression. These are unfashionable thoughts in these days when the loudest shouters are loudly shouting for even less regulation in an economic downturn (read: "catastrophe") caused by deregulation. Happily, Thomas Frank is not so quick to damn logic as those who seek to be the boss of you.
"...we're out of control, and we're a nation built on giant lies."
—David Vann
To be honest, I'm not exactly sure where I interviewed David Vann. I could probably get to the location again, a lovely suburban house in Fremont, but beyond that; I don't know. I don't know what the meaning of that house was, so to speak, and that's indicative of the intensity of our conversation.
I want to tell readers straight up that this interview is going to anger some of you, terrify most of you and rivet the attention of anyone who starts listening. The experience was like getting in a bullet train, no egress till the end. I'd spoken with David before, and he was perfectly at ease with me, and so we engaged in one of the most unforgettable conversations I will ever have.
I do want to caution listeners who might be sensitive. While we don't talk about any violence beyond the shootings themselves, the level of intensity here is such that some will want to approach this with caution. This is a conversation that examines the darkest aspects of our nation and our culture. I suspect that many will disagree with some of the conclusions Vann reaches. But I think it is important to have those thoughts aired, to get them out in the open so that we can look at them. The author makes admissions that are startling.
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Mary Robinette Kowal Reads "Evil Robot Monkey" at SF in SF on April 20, 2013 : "...not that there's anything remotely Regency about evil robot monkeys..."
05-06-13: Commentary : Glennon Doyle Melton Suggests 'Carry On, Warrior' : Fighting for Life in the Too Much Information Age
05-04-13: Commentary : Reasons Not to Leave the House, Reality Check : The Truth Hurts Edition: 'Down the Up Escalator' by Barbara Garson, 'The Wolf and the Watchman' by Scott C. Johnson,'The Book of Woe' by Gary Greenberg, 'Confessions of a Sociopath' by M. E. Thomas
05-01-13: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews An Emporium of Automata by DP Watt : "...from the bizarre to the grotesque, from the baroque to the uncanny..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : : Rick Klaw Reads at SF in SF on April 20, 2013 : "...those are the kind of people that don't get work anymore..."
04-29-13: Commentary : Ben Katchor Catalogues 'Hand Drying in America' : Subversive Cities of the Heart
04-27-13: Commentary : Mark Morris Introduces 'Toady' : A New World of Horror
Agony Column Podcast News Report : : Thomas Frank from The Easy Chair and Harper's Magazine: TV's DC Fantasies : "... basically, everyone is corrupt ..."
04-22-13: Commentary : Danielle Trussoni Maps 'Angelopolis' : The Afterlife of Angels
04-17-13: Commentary : How Not to Leave the House : Reach for the Recycling
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Matt Richtel, Sophie Littlefield and Terry Bisson at SF in SF on February 9, 2013 : "You cannot do this all day long." Sophie Littlefield
04-16-13: Commentary : Stephen Kessler 'Scratch Pegasus' : Lens of Language
04-08-13: Commentary : Ruth Ozeki Clocks 'A Tale for the Time Being' : Reading is the Future
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Ruth Ozeki : "...through the act of writing, she would somehow conjure the reader into being..."
